Minnesota HomeBrew Music Show – MN Assn of Songwriters

Another show paying tribute to members of the MN Assn of Songwriters featuring a new song from Tim Hildebrandt’s CD and old favorites by other MAS songwriters. And we tell about US servicemen who tried to drink Iceland dry. All on MHB!

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The Beat: Robert Jevne – “Trust Me”

Robert Jevne lives, works, and talks about himself in the third person in the greater Jacobson area. This manner of speaking is most likely an outgrowth of his youth in Illinois.The chickens mostly ignore him when he talks like this, but the cows seem to enjoy it. The Beat is daily reminder that, in Minnesota poetry matters, and Minnesota poets prove that every day.

Native Farm Bill Coalition is Making Headway in DC

Native Farm Bill Coalition is Making Headway in DC

A coalition of tribes and their allies are in Washington DC talking about food and agriculture.They want to help draft a federal farm bill that better serves tribal communities. Reporter Melissa Townsend tells us more.

It’s been since the 1970’s that tribal governments have been able to open and run their own medical clinics. That’s because they negotiated directly with the US government to receive federal funds to serve their citizens in a way they think is best.

Now - a coalition of tribes lead by Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community - are working to establish the same kind of self determination over food and agriculture programs. Colby Duren is part of the coalition.

He is Policy Director at the Indigenous Food and Agriculture initiative at the University of Arkansas School of Law. He says the coalition wants the U-S Department of Agriculture to allow tribal governments to run their own programs.

DUREN: There is a lot of ability for USDA to defer to states and so we want to make sure that in all those different places that it defers to states, it also defers to tribes as well.

And this goes way beyond food and agriculture. The USDA can lend money to state and local governments for rural development —so they can build anything from a community center to a housing complex to a broadband network. Colby Duren says the Native Farm Bill Coalition wants tribes to be able to access that money.

DUREN: That would really help tribal governments build out rural communities.

He says members of congress have been very receptive to these policy proposals. In fact, because of the work of the Native Coalition, Minnesota’s U.S. Senator Tina Smith proposed a bill that gives tribes authority to run their own SNAP programs — that’s the supplemental nutrition assistance program also known as food stamps.